Jose Romero of the Seattle Times bids us all a fond farewell. He is moving on to a new job, but he leaves us with a great final column. Best of dude.

WHY?

Mark E Smith reads the scores. Those of you in the know may have already seen this, but I still laugh out loud every time. For those not in the know, Smith is the curmudgeonly singer of English rock band The Fall. And yes he sings with that same voice. (Thanks to TVV for the reminder)

KeithKerith Gabriel of Philly News and Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer both look ahead to the first time the Union lines up to play a game - Saturday v UNC. [Thanks to Dave for the name correction]

The current deal expired on Jan 31, 2010, but the two sides agreed to originally extend it until Feb 12, and now a further 13 days to Feb 25. Negotiations are said to be going well.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

Lots of new pictures of PPL Park in Chester PA (taken before the giant snow obviously). Very exciting!-Here's an example:

NSC MINNESOTA STARS

The Stars introduced their first player today, and it is none other than former Thunder great Johnny Menyonger. JM had left Minnesota a few years back for a bigger payday with Rochester Rhinos. Last year he was having one of his best seasons until a knee injury ended that run. Now the big question is, has he healed yet? Here is the official press release.-Why does the picture look like they are holding up one his old Thunder jerseys?